According to the Manteca Bulletin the Manteca, California City Council will today consider,

“a municipal ordinance that would make spaying and neutering of pit bull breeds mandatory in the City of Manteca with one exception – for breeding under strict conditions that require a city issued permit…

Highlights include:

• Pit bull refers to any dog that is a Bull Terrier, Miniature Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, or any other dog displaying the physical traits of any one or more of the previously mentioned breeds or any dog exhibiting those distinguishing characteristics that conform to specific standards established by the American Kennel Club or the United Kennel Club for any of the listed breeds.

• Owners unsure whether their dog is a pit bull that requires neutering or spaying, can make an appointment with the Police Department for a staff member to make a determination. There is an appeal provision.

• The only reasons a person may have a pit bull that isn’t fixed include the pit bull being under eight weeks of age, if there is a high degree of suffering serious bodily harm or death due a physical abnormality based on a veterinarian certification who must also say when the operation can take place, the pit bull has been in the city less than 30 days, the owner has obtained or submitted an application for a breeding permit, the pit bull is a show dog but must include proper registration papers, or if the pit bull’s status is under appeal.

• The first violation may result in the department impounding the pit bull and disposing of the pit bull in accordance with municipal ordinances or the owner may reclaim it by paying fees including the department’s cost of having a veterinarian spay or neuter the dog. The owner will be required to make a $100 deposit and then cover the balance of the actual bill before reclaiming ownership.

• The second violation is a misdemeanor publishable by imprisonment in county jail for a period not to exceed six months or a fine not exceeding $1,000 or both. The second violation may result in impounding and destroying the pit bull.

• Breeding permit application fees are $100 and come with a list of stringent rules that must be followed.”

Please contact the Manteca Mayor and City Council here and politely inform them that breed-specific legislation in any form is ineffective and unenforceable, as is mandatory spay/neuter.

Also, dog breed standards are not public domain. They are owned by either the respective breed parent club organizations or by the dog registry. AKC-registered dog breed standards in particular are owned by their respective parent club which is a member of the American Kennel Club. All of the other dog registries in the United States own the copyright to the breed standards of the dogs that they register. As such, the use of breed standards in any form of breed-specific legislation for supposed identification purposes is a copyright infringement, and is an illegal usage.

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Standards are usually owned by the parent breed clubs in the breed’s country of origin, not the registries – if they’ve had the sense to copyright them, that is.

It’s kind of funny, actually, that their description of ‘pit bull’ covers so many very different breeds. What’s funnier is how much of a yuk it will be when owners of the more than 24 unrelated breeds show up for designations – which I hope they will do. In fact, every single dog owner in Manteca should go down and get their dog identified.

These people are not only delusional but very uneducated about the dogs they think they have a right to render extinct.

I forgot to add – breed standards are not intended to identify dog breeds. They are meant to judge dogs already registered as purebred in the ring with a view to picking the one that comes closest as the winner. They are judging checklists using terms most people don’t understand – well let down – what does that mean, for example?

I defy these twits to identify any but the handful of very distinct breeds (Dalmatians, Boston terriers, Bull terriers, a few more) by their standards. I can’t do it myself, most of the time, so I don’t see how they think they can.

The problem is that City of Manteca will be its own judge, jury and prosecutioner with regard to breed ID, so the point is moot that their breed identifications will not be accurate.

CA law says local jurisdictions can only pass breed specific ordinances with regard to spay-neuter and breeding programs, and that if a jurisdiction does pass such a law, they are prohibited from declaring any breed to be potentially dangerous or vicious (which conflicts with the mayor’s statement as well as the article’s title).

The City of Manteca is within the confines of the law to pass mandatory spay-neuter of pit bulls. The much bigger problem is that they are manipulating the existing law to effectively be a breed ban. The way I interpret the Manteca Bulletin article, if they so choose, the City of Manteca will be able to impound and dispose of your pit bull on the first violation (of being intact).

Quote: “The first violation may result in the department impounding the pit bull and disposing of the pit bull in accordance with municipal ordinances or the owner may reclaim it by paying fees including the department’s cost of having a veterinarian spay or neuter the dog.”

Looks to me like they’re saying that with the first violation of being intact, they’ll kill the dog if they want or they’ll impound and sterilize the dog and then get reimbursed by the owner for it . . . whatever they choose to do.